My First Million
The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.
Build a systematic trend research database for business ideation
Entrepreneurs and business developers looking for data-driven opportunity identification
2-4 weeks to build initial database, ongoing maintenanceWhat Success Looks Like
A spreadsheet with 100+ categorized trends showing direction, doubling time, causes, effects, and business implications
Steps to Execute
Set up categories: social issues, healthcare, energy, technology, demographics
Use Google Scholar to find academic papers with trend data
Collect industry reports and government statistics
Document each trend's growth rate and doubling time
Identify causes and potential second-order effects
Prioritize by growth speed and monetization potential
Checklist
Inputs Needed
- Access to Google Scholar and industry databases
- Time for systematic research (10-20 hours/week initially)
- Basic spreadsheet skills
- Understanding of business model implications
Outputs
- Prioritized trend database
- Business opportunity pipeline
- Market timing insights
- Competitive intelligence on emerging spaces
Example
“Researcher identifies declining college admission rates as a trend, investigates causes (increased competition), and identifies opportunities in test prep, application services, and alternative credentialing.”